8. Clip View

The Clip View is where clip properties can be set and adjusted.

The Clip View.

Clicking on the Clip Overview or double-clicking a clip in the Session or Arrangement
View opens the Clip View. If you’re using dual monitors, the Clip View will open in
the same window you just clicked. To switch the Clip View to the other window, press
Shift-Tab. (Tip: single-clicking a clip will show that clip in the Clip View, but will not move the Clip View from its current window. This allows you to, for example, dedicate
one window to detailed clip editing while using the other window for your work in
the Session or Arrangement.)

Clicking the Clip Overview Opens the Clip View.

In the Session View, clicking on a Track Status Field opens the Clip View for editing
the clip that is currently running in the track.

Clicking a Session View Track Status Field Opens the Clip View.

The properties of more than one clip can be edited collectively in the Clip View as
a multi-selection. To create a multi-selection, click and drag from an empty clip
slot to highlight the clips, or select one clip and use the CTRL(PC) / CMD(Mac) or Shift modifiers to add to your selection. The properties available in the Clip View for
a multi-selection depend on the contents of the clips; generally only properties which
the clips have in common are shown.

Creating a Clip Multi-Selection.

Controls such as sliders and knobs behave slightly differently when they are part
of a multi-selection. If the clips in a multi-selection have differing values for
any particular knob or slider parameter (clip transposition, for example), the range
of these values will be displayed and can be adjusted with the control. Dragging the
knob or slider to its absolute maximum or minimum value will make the clips’ settings
thereafter identical, adjustable as a single value.

MIDI clips and audio clips in Live have different sets of properties and, consequently,
do not share the same set of Clip View controls. The two types of clips do have the
following in common:

The Clip box contains basic clip settings.

The Envelopes box and the Envelope Editor manage the clip’s envelopes, which are used to automate or modulate the effects,
mixer, and clip or MIDI controls. Clip envelopes and their associated Clip View components
are covered in detail in a separate manual chapter (see Chapter 20).

The Sample Display toggles with the Envelope Editor on the right-hand side of the Clip View, and controls
Live’s sample-warping capabilities and clip playback settings (see 8.2.2).

The Sample box contains settings pertaining to how the clip plays its sample and displays it in
the Sample Display.

The Clip View for an Audio Clip.

MIDI clips have these additional Clip View controls:

The MIDI Editor toggles with the Envelope Editor on the right-hand side of the Clip View, and allows
editing and creating MIDI notes and velocities (see Chapter 10).

The Notes box contains settings pertaining to how Live plays a MIDI clip, as well as a collection
of tools for transforming the notes within the clip.

The Clip View for a MIDI Clip.

To make best use of the screen real estate, you can show or hide the Launch, Envelopes,
and Sample or MIDI boxes using the Clip View Box selector in the Clips box. You can
also toggle between the Sample Display/MIDI Editor and the Envelope Editor by clicking
in the title bars of the Sample/Notes box and the Envelopes box, respectively.

8.1 The Clip Box

The Clip Box.

8.1.1 Clip Activator Switch

Using this switch, you can deactivate a clip so that it does not play when launched
in the Session View or during Arrangement playback. Clips can also be activated/deactivated
directly from the Session or Arrangement View with their right-click(PC) / CTRL-click(Mac) context menus.

8.1.2 Clip Name and Color

The Clip Name field allows naming the clip. By default, a clip’s name matches the
name of the file it references but, in general, the clip name is independent from
the file name.

You can also rename a clip by selecting it in the Session grid or Arrangement View
and using the Rename command in the Edit menu or the clip’s right-click(PC) / CTRL-click(Mac) context menu. This method also allows you to create your own info text for the
clip via the Edit Info Text command.

Renaming an audio clip does not rename the referenced sample file. To rename a file,
select it in Live’s browser, and then choose the Edit menu’s Rename command.

Newly created clips take the same color as the track on which they’re created, but
the Clip Color chooser allows you to choose a clip color manually.

You can quickly apply the track’s color to each of its clips by using the Assign Track
Color to Clips command in the track header’s right-click(PC) / CTRL-click(Mac) context menu.

To apply a Group Track’s (see 15.3) color to all of its contained tracks and clips, you can use the Assign Track Color
to Grouped Tracks and Clips command in the respective Group Track header’s right-click(PC) / CTRL-click(Mac) context menu.

Note that when using the Assign Track Color to Clips or Assign Track Color to Grouped
Tracks and Clips command in Session View, the color change will only affect Session
clips. Likewise, using either command in Arrangement View will only change the color
of Arrangement clips.

8.1.3 Clip Signature

Using the Clip Signature fields, you can specify the time signature of a MIDI or audio
clip. This setting is relevant only for display; it does not affect playback. Please
note that Clip Signature is completely separate from the project’s time signature,
and can be set independently for each clip. This makes it easy to create complex polymetric
textures by simultaneously triggering clips with different meters and/or loop lengths.

8.1.4 Clip Groove Chooser

The Clip Groove chooser selects the groove used for the clip from the grooves available
in the Groove Pool (see 12.1).

The Clip Groove Chooser.

The “Open Groove Pool“ entry in this chooser can be used to open the Groove Pool if
it is closed. If you want to quickly try out a variety of grooves, you can enable
the Hot-Swap button above the chooser and then step through the grooves in the browser
while the clip plays.

The Commit button under the chooser “writes“ the current groove settings to the clip
and disables the assigned groove. If the groove uses the Velocity parameter, committing
on an audio clip will create a volume Clip Envelope (see Chapter 20) in order to convert the groove’s velocity information into audio volume changes.
Note that this will overwrite any volume Clip Envelope that was already in the clip.

8.1.5 Clip Offset and Nudging

To jump within a playing clip in increments the size of the global quantization period,
you can use the Nudge Backward/Forward buttons in the Clip box.

Using the Nudge Backward/Forward Buttons to Jump Through a Clip.

These buttons can also be mapped to keys or MIDI controllers (see Chapter 27). In MIDI Map Mode, a scrub control will appear between the Nudge Backward/Forward
buttons and can be assigned to a rotary encoder wheel for continuous scrubbing.

The Scrub Control in MIDI Map Mode.

With quantization set to values less than one bar, it is easy to offset clip playback
from Live’s master clock by launching clips, using the Nudge Backward/Forward buttons
or scrubbing within the clip (see “Playing and Scrubbing Clips”).

8.2 The Sample Box

8.2.1 Warp Controls

The Sample Box Warp Controls.

When the Warp switch is off, Live plays the sample at its original, “normal“ tempo,
irrespective of the current Live Set tempo. This is useful for samples that have no
inherent rhythmic structure: percussion hits, atmospheres, sound effects, spoken word
and the like. Turn the Warp switch on to play rhythmically structured samples (such
as sample loops, music recordings, complete music pieces, etc.) in sync with the current
song tempo.

The Control Bar’s Tempo Field.

To verify this, note that a warped sample’s speed follows the tempo as you change
the Control Bar’s Tempo control.

Live offers a number of controls to adjust the time-warping engine for optimal stretching
quality (see 9.3). For accurate warping, Live needs to know the sample’s metrical structure. For properly
prepared loops, tempo and duration are calculated automatically; most of the time
this is accurate enough that the sample is immediately ready for use in Live. For
other samples, you may have to provide some hints. We will examine these topics thoroughly
in the Audio Clips, Tempo, and Warping chapter (see Chapter 9).

8.2.2 Sample Loop/Region and Display

Zooming and Scrolling

The Clip Zoom/Scroll Area.

Zooming and scrolling in the Sample Display work much like they do in the Arrangement
View (see 6.1). When Warp is disabled, zooming and scrolling can be done anywhere in the upper
half of the Sample Display. When Warp is enabled, however, scrolling only happens
in the beat-time ruler.

Click and drag vertically in these areas to smoothly change the zoom level, and horizontally
to scroll the display.

To zoom in on the current time selection, press Z or use the View menu’s Zoom to Clip Selection command. You can revert back to the
previous zoom state by pressing Shift-Z. Note that pressing Shift-Z another time will zoom the Clip View out completely.

The Clip Overview.

The Clip Overview provides additional zoom/scrolling functionality. It always shows
the complete clip, from start to end. The black rectangular outline represents the
part of the clip that is currently displayed. You can click within the outline and
drag horizontally or vertically to scroll or zoom.

To have the Sample Display follow the play position and scroll automatically, turn
on the Follow switch, or use the Follow command from the Options menu. Follow will
pause if you make an edit in the Sample Editor. Follow will start again once you stop
or restart playback, or click in the Arrangement or clip scrub area.

The Follow Switch.

Playing and Scrubbing Clips

The section of the sample that plays when a clip is launched is set with the clip’s
region and loop controls (see “Looping Clips”). An unlooped clip will play from its start marker to its end marker or until it
is stopped.

The Clip Start and End Markers.

These markers can be clicked and dragged to new positions in the Sample Display, or
they can be moved with the left and right arrow keys. To move the entire clip region
(i.e., both the start and end markers), select either marker, hold down ALT, and use the arrow keys.

Using Clip Start and End Controls to Change Clip Length.

You can also adjust the clip start and end numerically using the respective value
fields to the left of the Sample Display. For warped clips, these fields display values
as bars-beats-sixteenths; for unwarped clips, the display is in minutes-seconds-milliseconds.
Notice that you can use the Set buttons here to place the markers during playback.
Setting markers this way is quantized according to global quantization.

When Permanent Scrub Areas is enabled in Live’s Look/Feel Preferences, clicking in
the lower half of the waveform or in the beat-time ruler will make clip playback jump
to that point.

The Clip Scrub Area.

The size of this jump is quantized by the global quantization setting, which can be
quickly changed using the CTRL-6(PC) / CMD-6(Mac), 7, 8, 9, and 0 shortcuts. While the mouse is held down over the scrub area, a portion of the clip
the size of the chosen quantization setting will be repeatedly played. With small
quantization settings, or a setting of “None,“ this allows you to scrub through the
music. Activating the Options menu’s Chase MIDI Notes command allows MIDI notes to
play back even if playback begins after the MIDI note’s start time.

When the Permanent Scrub Areas preference is off, you can still scrub by Shift-clicking anywhere in the scrub area or in the beat time ruler.

Looping Clips

To have the clip play as a (potentially infinite) loop, turn on the Loop switch. Note that the Warp switch must be activated before the Loop switch is accessible,
as unwarped clips cannot be looped.

You can click and drag to change the position and length of the loop brace in the Sample Display, or you can type exact values into the Loop Length and Position
fields to the left of the display.

The Clip Loop Controls.

The loop brace can be selected with the mouse and its position changed with commands
from the computer keyboard:

the left and right arrow keys nudge the loop brace to the left/right by the current
grid setting (see 6.9).

the up and down arrow keys shift the loop brace left/right in steps the size of its
length.

CTRL(PC) / CMD(Mac) plus the left or right arrow shortens or lengthens the loop brace by the current
grid setting.

CTRL(PC) / CMD(Mac) plus the up or down arrow doubles or halves the loop length.

(MIDI clips only) The loop’s length and its contents can be duplicated at once via
the Edit Menu’s Duplicate Loop command. Any notes to the right of the loop will be
moved, so that they maintain their position relative to the end of the loop.

Regardless of the position of the loop brace, clip play will begin at the position
marked by the start marker, which means you can set up the clip to run into a loop.

Setting the Clip to Run Into a Loop.

The Loop Length and Position fields are equipped with Set buttons, which can be used
to create loops spontaneously during playback:

Playing the clip and then clicking the Set Loop Position button moves the beginning
of loop to the current playback position (rounded to the global quantization setting)
and engages the loop. Then, clicking the Set Loop Length button moves the end of the
loop to the current playback position. This lets you capture the music in a loop on
the fly.

While the loop is still off, you can click the Set Loop Length button to set the loop
to end at the current playback position without changing its preset length. This simultaneously
activates looping.

The Set buttons, the Loop switch, the loop brace and the start/end markers can all
be mapped to MIDI controls (see Chapter 27). You could, for example, use a rotary encoder to move the loop through a sample
in increments the size of the chosen quantization interval.

8.2.3 Clip Pitch and Gain

The Clip Pitch and Gain Controls.

The Transpose control shifts the clip pitch in semitones.

The Detune field fine-tunes the clip in cents (100 cents = one semitone).

The Clip Gain slider, calibrated in dB, changes the clip gain.

8.2.4 Destructive Sample Editing

The Launch Sample Editor Button.

The Edit button opens the sample in an external sample editing application, which
you can specify in the File/Folder Preferences. To process a sample in an external
program, you have to stop Live’s playback. When you return to Live, the edited version
of the sample will be played back. The current set of Warp Markers is retained only
if the sample length remains the same as it did prior to editing. Remember that changes
made to one sample may affect other clips that play the same sample.

8.2.5 Saving Default Clip Settings with the Sample

The Save Default Clip Button.

The Save Default Clip button saves the current clip’s settings with the sample. With
multiple clips selected, this button will save them all simultaneously. Once saved,
Live will restore the current clip settings whenever you drop the sample into a Live
Set. This is especially useful with regards to the Warp Markers, which have to be
set correctly for Live to play long files in sync. Note that you can use the Save
button without affecting any existing clips; Save just saves default settings for
future clips using this sample.

The clip data becomes part of the analysis file that accompanies the sample (see 5.2.2).

Note that storing default clip settings with the sample is different from saving the
clip as a Live Clip (see 5.4), which also saves devices and device settings.

8.2.6 High Quality Interpolation

The High Quality Switch.

If the High Quality switch is on, Live uses an advanced sample-rate conversion algorithm
that provides better sound quality at the expense of a higher CPU load. Samples processed
with the Hi-Q algorithm generate less distortion, particularly at high frequencies,
when transposing a sample and/or matching an imported sample’s sampling rate to the
system’s sampling rate. With this mode enabled, samples can be transposed roughly
19 semitones in either direction before aliasing is likely to be audible.

Note: As of Live 7, the Hi-Q mode uses an algorithm that produces even smaller audible
artifacts than in previous versions. Although we think this has greatly improved sound
quality, any Sets made in older versions that used Hi-Q mode may now sound different.
For this reason, we have provided a Legacy Hi-Q Mode option, which is enabled by default
in the Options menu whenever you load an old Set that has Hi-Q enabled for any clips.
Simply disable this option if you wish to use the new mode.

8.2.7 Clip Start and End Fades

The Clip Fade Switch.

The Clip Fade switch, when enabled, applies a short fade to the clip start and end
to avoid clicks at the clip edges. The length of the fade is signal-dependent and
ranges from 0-4 milliseconds.

This switch is only available for clips in Session View. In Arrangement View, clip
fades are adjusted via envelopes (see 6.7).

The Clip Fade switch is on by default for all new clips when the Create Fades on Clip
Edges option is enabled in the Record/Warp/Launch Preferences.

Automatically Create Short Fades At Clip Edges.

8.2.8 Clip RAM Mode

The RAM Mode Switch.

If the RAM Mode switch is on, Live is loading the audio referenced by the clip into
the computer’s memory rather than reading it from disk in real time. RAM Mode can
help with these problems:

Your computer’s hard disk is too slow to deliver audio for as many tracks as desired
in real time. For more information on disk-related problems, please refer to Managing
the Disk Load (see 31.2).

You are experiencing audio dropouts when playing clips in Legato Mode (see 13.5).

Use RAM Mode with care, as RAM is usually a scarce resource. Your computer is using
the hard disk for swapping out RAM contents that have not been used in a while. The
more clips you are running in RAM Mode, the higher the likelihood for them to be swapped
out. Live can handle disk overloads more gracefully than swapped-out audio arriving
late: Disk overloads result in unwanted mutes, whereas RAM overload results in both
mutes and rhythmical “hiccups.“

8.2.9 Reversing Samples

The Reverse Button.

This function creates a new sample by reversing the sample referenced by the current
clip. It then reapplies the old clip’s settings (according to some rules that we will
explain in a moment), and replaces the original sample with the reversal in the Clip
View. The new sample can be found, after saving the Live Set, in the Set’s Project
folder, under Samples/Processed/Reverse. Until the Set is saved, new samples remain
at the location specified by the Temporary Folder.

There are a few rules for the reversing process. First, any Warp Markers will remain
fixed to their positions in the sample. This means that a Warp Marker on the downbeat of the second bar of a clip will end
up on the downbeat of the second-to-last bar after reversal. Clip loop/region settings
are similarly flipped. Second, clip envelopes remain fixed to their position in time. Therefore, a mixer volume envelope that lowers the volume of the first half of a
clip will continue to do exactly that after reversal.

The reversal process is quite fast (about as fast as copying), but for very long samples
it might take a little time. When this is the case, the Status Bar in the lower portion
of the Live screen will give you a progress display, and further actions in the program
will be temporarily locked (though running clips will continue to play). You can play
the reversed clip and perform other actions in the program as soon as Live begins
to draw the new waveform into the Sample Display. Once a sample is reversed, a link
to the reversed sample will be maintained until you quit the program, and reversing
the same clip again (or a copy) will be instantaneous.

In the Arrangement View, it is possible to reverse a selection of material, even if
it contains multiple clips. To do this, select the range of time you want to reverse,
and choose the Reverse Clip(s) command from the clip’s right-click(PC) / CTRL-click(Mac) context menu, or press the R shortcut key.

It is not recommended that you reverse clips in a live performance situation, as a
slight glitch can sometimes occur while Live reapplies the warp and loop settings.

8.2.10 Cropping Audio Clips

The Sample Display’s right-click(PC) / CTRL-click(Mac) context menu includes the Crop Sample command. This function creates, similarly
to the Reverse function, a new sample by copying the one currently in use - but only
the excerpt that is actually used. The new sample can be found, after saving the Live
Set, in the Set’s Project folder, under Samples/Processed/Crop. Until the Set is saved,
the new sample remains at the location specified by the Temporary Folder.

8.2.11 Replacing and Editing the Sample

To replace the sample referenced by the clip with a different one, drop the new sample
directly from the browser into the Clip View. Clip settings like pitch and volume
will be retained. The Warp Markers will be retained only if the new sample has the
exact same length as the old sample.

The Sample Display’s right-click(PC) / CTRL-click(Mac) context menu includes the Manage Sample File command. This opens the File Manager
for the current Set with the sample referenced by the clip selected. From there, you
can replace and destructively edit the sample (see 5.5.5), in such a way that all clips and instruments referencing the sample will be affected.
You can also use the Show in Browser command in the right-click(PC) / CTRL-click(Mac) context menu to reveal the file in the browser.

8.3 The Notes Box

The Notes Box.

8.3.1 Transform Tools

The Notes Box Transform Tools.

The Note Box’s transform tools allow for fast manipulation of a MIDI clip’s contents.
These controls affect the selected notes or time range. If nothing is selected, they
affect the whole clip.

the Transpose slider transposes the selection. Type a number to transpose by semitones. Type a
note name to set the lowest note. Adding a “-” before the note name sets the highest
note.

the :2 and *2 buttons double or halve the playback speed of the selection, respectively.

Rev reverses the selection so that the last note swaps places with the first note.

Inv flips the selection “upside-down” so that the highest note is swapped with the lowest
note.

Legato lengthens (or shortens) each selected note so that it is just long enough to reach
the beginning of the next note.

Dupl. Loop doubles the material within the loop brace (as well as the length of the loop brace
itself), zooming as necessary to show the entire loop. Any notes to the right of the
loop will be moved, so that they maintain their position relative to the end of the
loop.

For a more detailed discussion of MIDI editing, see the chapter on this topic (see Chapter 10).

8.3.2 Bank and Program Change

The Notes Box Bank and Program Controls.

Live can send MIDI bank/program change messages to external devices and plug-ins that
support MIDI program change messages. According to the settings in these controls,
launching a clip also sends its bank/program change message. If you are using Live
to send MIDI to your synth, this means that each MIDI clip in your Live Set can play
a different sound on your synth. Live offers messages for 128 banks with 128 sub-banks,
each of which has 128 programs. Please see the documentation that came with your synthesizer
to determine how many of these messages it can use. If you do not want your clip to
send program or bank change messages, simply set the bank/program choosers to “---.“

8.3.3 MIDI Loop/Region

These controls manage how the contents of a MIDI clip are played and shown in the
MIDI Editor. They work the same way as those for audio clips (see 8.2.2).

In the MIDI Editor, the zoom/scroll area is located above the beat-time ruler, the
scrub area just below.

8.4 Clip Defaults and Update Rate

You can change the rate at which Live applies your Clip View settings to a running
clip. Clip View changes will be quantized by the rate selected from the Clip Update
Rate chooser in the Record/Warp/Launch Preferences. Certain clip settings, such as
Launch Mode and Warp Mode, can be set up as defaults for all new clips. This is also
done in the Record/Warp/Launch Preferences.